What Hardware Should I Buy? - Nov 2008

bit-tech recommends... November 2008

Phew! it's been a busy month here in the bit-tech offices, with October full of fantastic new hardware launches, and November set to be just the same. With the launch of Intel's Core i7 we'll doubtless be seeing a major shake up of the high end and ultra high end recommended hardware as the range of processors and accompanying motherboards and memory start to make thier way into the market.

Sadly though, the dreaded credit crunch seems to have finally made its way to e-tailers, with the weakening pound forcing hardware prices up across the board - we've seen some products increase in price by well over fifteen percent in just one month! However, you won't feel the pinch so much if you pick up the right hardware, which is what this guide is all about.

No one likes trawling through search engines for hours looking for product reviews or recommendations to justify your own, let alone someone else’s all important graphics card or processor purchase, so we’ve decided to make the whole process a fair bit easier by producing a monthly hardware buyer's guide. We're still figuring out the best way to present the guide, but we've already received a good amount of feedback from our forums and will be looking to expand the range of recommended kit soon.

Picking out new hardware can be confusing - we hope to make it a lot simpler for you!

For now, we've put together systems aimed at at mid range, high end and premium budgets and looking at every piece of hardware you need to build a system, from processors to motherboards, cases to coolers, power supplies to hard disks. All of the recommendations made in this guide are based entirely on either our personal experiences or our own reviews, or even occasionally good rumblings and recommendations from trusted community members - so you know that by picking the hardware we've recommended, you’ll be getting a high quality product.

Here at bit-tech, we want to take our buyer's guide seriously and will be updating it monthly, adding new products as and when we feel there's a need for change either because technology has moved on, or prices have got a whole lot more competitive. We want to improve the guide in the future, but are currently looking to find the right format before expanding into other areas such as monitors and peripherals. The feedback you provided last month was, as always, invaluable, so don't forget to pipe up and let us know what you think in the forums again this month!